Dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts

Born in Celle, Lower Saxony, in 1972, she studied German language and literature and philosophy at the University of Cologne and the Freie Universität Berlin. She then completed a degree in directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna in the class of Prof. Achim Benning. In 2005, she obtained her doctorate in an interdisciplinary programme at the Max Reinhardt Seminar and the University of Vienna under Prof. Peter Roessler and Prof. Konrad Paul Liessmann.

While still a student, she realised her first productions in Cologne and Vienna. While working on her doctoral thesis, she also worked as a freelance production dramaturge. From 2005 to 2008, she worked as a dramaturge at the Landestheater Niederösterreich, where she supervised several playwright competitions and directed plays herself. In 2009, she worked at the brunnenpassage in Vienna, a community arts project. From 2009 to 2013, she moved to the Theater St. Gallen as senior acting dramaturge. During this time, she worked with Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, Stephan Müller, Wolfgang Mitterer and Milo Rau, among others. She directed the playwriting competition of the Theater St. Gallen and Konstanz. She was a lecturer for public lectures at the University of St. Gallen.  

Professor Karoline Exner has been head of the Department for Drama since 2013 and dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts since 2014. Since then, she has served on numerous juries, including for the City of Vienna's drama scholarship and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture, Constitution and Media. She is also the deputy director of the Elfriede Jelinek Interuniversity Research Network. In this capacity, she has published articles and been invited to international symposia in Vienna, Montpellier, Tokyo, New York and São Paulo, among other places. In 2025, she was elected deputy chair of the Ständigen Konferenz Schauspielausbildung (SKS).

Vice dean
Univ.-Prof. Mag. Alex. Riener
Phone: +43 1 512 77 47-520 — Mobile: +43 664 606 47 520 — a.riener@muk.ac.at 

Faculty Management

Mag. Sibylle Singer 
Room BRA 2.36 — Phone: +43 1 512 77 47-532 — Mobile: +43 664 606 47 532 — s.singer@muk.ac.at